Novopay – patience is fast running out

The Novopay system continues to fail hardworking school support staff, teachers and principals, NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter said today.

The year’s second pay cycle this week left 350 principals underpaid a career step allowance along with reports of multiple other under-payments and errors.

The year’s first pay cycle earlier this month had a considerably higher error rate than pay cycles last year, which Minister Steven Joyce blamed on data entry errors and the complexity of the school payroll.

However, this week’s principal payment error clearly lies with Novopay and its software systems.

Mr Goulter says the school payroll is no more complex this year than last year.

“The fact is that Novopay is not delivering and causing huge stress especially for school support staff who act as payroll officers.

“No matter how much the Minister promotes self-service on-line and a help desk, the system itself is so flawed that it is causing unprecedented problems, stress, time and money.

“The Ministry of Education cannot be seen as a good employer if this situation continues. The school workforce has been patient for more than a year, but that patience is fast running out.”

Discussion

3 thoughts on “Novopay – patience is fast running out”

This paragraph from NZPF seems to suggest that there is some ‘fudging’ of error data going!! From the President – Phil Harding – based upon membership survey data……..

“Today I have requested a special meeting with the Deputy Secretary with Novopay responsibility, Cathy Magiannis. At a Payroll briefing on Monday, sector leaders were informed by the Ministry that in Pay Period 23 there were just 234 people not paid anything, and the overall error rate was 0.69%. If we assume a total payroll population of 100,000 people (and that’s too generous), that would be just 690 people with pay problems.

714 schools, or 88.6% of all respondents, answered the question, and the total number of incorrectly paid staff that our colleagues reported is 4413. Any sort of extrapolation of these data points to as many as 10,000 people paid incorrectly – a far cry from 690.

Today I am meeting to lay a formal complaint with the Ministry. Either Talent2 is deliberately misleading the Ministry, or there is some sort of cover-up at play. The extreme frustration is back in many school offices. Payroll administrators’ resignations are once again being offered.”

I feel so terribly bad for our amazing payroll lady – many of our staff are underpaid, or not paid at all and she is desperate to make sure we are all ok. She is getting no communication from Novapay, but still tries her best to keep smiling under phenomenally upsetting conditions. The stress for some un/under-paid colleagues is clearly beginning to show, and it is simply unacceptable that we are all expected to solider on under these conditions. My pay is also affected this year as a new unit holder – somehow Novapay is unable to add a simple unit to my base salary. This is NOT a minor, insignificant problem, and if this was anywhere but the public service there would be heads rolling and walkouts.

I presume that schools are stepping in to make up the cash in the interim…that is another job being undertaken by the school, that will not be paid for.That time will not be made up. The schools are rescuing an incompetent provider and cocksure Minister.But schools have to because teachers worried about mortgages cannot teach effectively.